Enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn has confirmed Brussels’ stance that Bosnia and Herzegovina cannot think seriously about European integration until the Office of the High Representative, OHR, is closed. “No quasi-protectorate can join the EU,” Rehn said. The EU “membership of Bosnia and Herzegovina could only be considered once [the] OHR …

The Appelate Chamber of the Hague Tribunal has postponed the beginning of Radovan Karadzic’s trial by seven days to allow him to study the revised indictment. In the same decision, the Chamber refused Karadzic’s request to have an additional ten months to prepare his defence. The former president of Republika …

Bosnian Serb leaders have rebuffed a package of reforms and incentives proposed by the US and EU to end Bosnia’s political crisis. The package was presented at emergency negotiations held at Butmir military camp near Sarajevo last week. A group of EU and US technical experts has remained in the …

The European Commission, EC, will release an opinion on Montenegro’s application for EU membership in autumn 2010. The progress report on Montenegro shows that the country’s relations with the EU have been positive and that Podgorica has continued to make progress in fulfilling political criteria. However, the country continues to …

Romanian opposition parties agreed on Wednesday to nominate the mayor of Sibiu, Klaus Johannis, for the prime minister’s office, following Tuesday’s collapse of the Democratic Liberal government. The Social Democratic Party, PSD, Liberals, PNL, and ethnic Hungarian UMDR party were unanimous in deciding to put their collective political weight behind …

European Parliament, EP, rapporteur on visa issues, Tanja Fajon, has reiterated her strong support for the inclusion of western Balkan states in the EU visa-free scheme. Fajon said she believes that all nationals of western Balkan states should be allowed to travel freely to EU member states, as soon as …

Tužilaštvo Federacije BiH potpuno je razvlaštena institucija. Zvanično postoje, imaju milionski budžet, desetine zaposlenih, ali kada se sve sabere, njihov je utjecaj, najblaže rečeno, skroman. Institucije koje su lav od papira čest su slučaj u BiH. Nije to izum ovdašnjih političkih umova, ali je praksa koju su svesrdno prigrlili. Zemlja …

Serbia’s security agencies say that the fact that Ratko Mladić and Goran Hadžić have still to be arrested is a “relative failure”. The security services (BIA) and military security services (VBA), which are in charge of locating the Hague indictees, say that it is a “relative failure” that Ratko Mladić …

The Institute for European Civil Rights from Bucharest expressed its conviction that the Constitutional Court will remove this unconstitutional article. The High Court of Cassation and Justice of Romania asked the Constitutional Court to deal with an exception in the Law on Romanian Nationality, which limits the number of applications …

The Supreme Rada introduced amendments to the electoral legislation, under which polling stations outside Ukraine can be set up only at the country’s embassies. The Transnistrian official responsible for human rights Vasili Kaliko asked Ukrainian ombudswoman Nina Karpachova to pass on the request to open polling stations in Transnistria for …